I apologize if this has been rehashed to death by now, but I'm confused on a particular topic. Every discussion I've seen online (either here on reddit or other WWI-themed sites) definitively states that the Serbian government had no links to the assassination attempt. However, I feel like I've gotten conflicting information from my reading. In the first chapter of Max Hasting's 1914, he discusses a certain higher-up in the Serbian military as being one of Princip's contacts in Belgrade. (I wish I could remember the individual's name but I don't have the book in front of me right now). If I recall correctly, most damningly, this military bigwig was the one that supplied Princip and his outfit with the guns they were supposed to use in the assassination.
So where am I going wrong on this one? As always, thank you for your replies, kind AskHistorians users.
I can't say that I'm familiar with that information but I'm not surprised, Serbia at the time was pretty unstable when it comes to political leanings, only few years prior were the king and queen assassinated by those who wanted to see the other dynasty on the throne and many, many people had very different opinions about the direction in which Serbia should go. There were many intellectuals who supported the pan-Yugoslavic ideas of the "Young Bosnia" movement that planned the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and I wouldn't be surprised if there really was a higher-up in the military that supplied Princip.
However, Serbia at the time was pretty weakened by 110 years of fighting for full independence with the last war against the Turks ending in 1913, the country was in no shape to stand up to anyone in hopes of liberating Bosnia, let alone Austro-Hungary which was probably the most prepared empire for war in Europe at the time while Serbia didn't have enough uniforms for male civilians that had to fight because most soldiers already died in the combat against Turks. Even if the whole Serbia and it's government did support the idea of liberating Bosnia (and it didn't) I don't think that most people would support the idea of getting into another war less then a year after the last one against the more powerful, organized, and rich empire.
So, to recap, there were probably people in the Serbian government and military that (passively or actively) supported the ideas of "Young Bosnia" but personal attitudes don't count as the government's official stance on the subject which is evident by Serbia's effort to avoid the war when Austro-Hungary sent the ultimatum and offering to fulfill every article except the one that basically required Serbia to lose it's sovereignty. If the Serbia's government at the time really did try to provoke a war with Austro-Hungary it wouldn't remain a government for very long considering how unprepared and tired of fighting Serbian people were at the time (which is why, I believe, the reason most people argue that Serbian government didn't organize/support the assassination).